


Scarlet

by OfEndlessWonder



Category: Pretty Little Liars
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-02
Updated: 2015-04-02
Packaged: 2018-03-20 23:06:20
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,948
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3668559
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OfEndlessWonder/pseuds/OfEndlessWonder
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A continuation of the finale where Alison, released from prison, works with the three boys in order to rescue the girls. Basically what my dream would be for the season six premiere.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Scarlet

It’s torture, waiting in that prison for news and knowing that she’s probably not going to get any. She sits in her cell with her back pressed against the wall and her knees pressed against her chest, her stomach churning, sick with worry, her mind going through all the horrors the girls could be going through right now all because of  _her_ .

She knows that it’s illogical to think like that. _She_ hadn’t kidnapped them, _she_ wasn’t the one that was probably torturing them right now (god, just the thought makes her want to sob), but she still can’t help but feel responsible for what’s happened to them because of A.

Because they wouldn’t be on A’s radar, if not for her – everything always seems to lead back to her, in the end. She wishes that A would’ve just taken her, instead. She’s already lost everything. Her brother and her father barely visit her anymore, can’t look in the eye, and her friends had believed the worst in her, and that’s a wound that she thinks might never truly heal – A can’t hurt her any more than they already have.

She knows that’s the point, though. She’s at the centre of this… whatever it is. She’s the central piece – A wants her to suffer the most, so they’ve isolated her, put her in this place to rot for the rest of her life, and now the ones she loves are being taken from her, one by one.

Their faces flash through her mind – Spencer, Aria, Hanna and Emily – and she feels tears sting in her eyes, because the thought that she might never see them again, despite all of the things they’ve done to one another, is unthinkable.

The thought of never seeing _Emily_ again, without having the chance to fix things between them, is torturous. Because all she sees when she closes her eyes at night is Emily’s face, the way her mouth had twisted when she’d told Alison she was done with her, when she’d accused her of being A, and the blank look in her eyes when she, along with the other girls, had shoved her into the arms of the police.

It aches, knowing that the only person that she’s ever… she hates to use the word love, had never believed herself capable of it, but god, it’s the only thing to describe the depth of what she feels for Emily Fields.

She was never supposed to fall for her. She’d known (back before her life had gone to hell, before she’d disappeared), that Emily had feelings for her – it’d been obvious. And she’d liked the attention, the way it made her feel, had milked it for all it was worth – until one day, Emily hadgrown brave enough to kiss her, and it had sent her reeling.

Because it had had her heart racing, her pulse thundering in her ears, and it had her forgetting how to breathe, a fluttering in her stomach that she’d _never_ felt before, and she’d known that somehow, somewhere along the way, she’d managed to develop feelings for Emily, too.

She’d been stupid to push that away, to push _Emily_ away, but she’d been scared. Scared of what it meant, to feel something so deep and so _tangible_ for her best friend, for a _girl_ , terrified of what people (her mother, god, what would her _mother_ have said?), would think.

So she’d been a bitch, had swallowed her feelings and let Emily believe that she felt nothing, that it was just _practice_ and didn’t mean a thing.

And she lied so well and Emily had thought so little of herself and so much of Alison that it had worked, Emily had believed her, and Alison had been haunted by the look on Emily’s face that day in the locker room ever since.

And now everything’s so messed up. She’s in prison and she doesn’t know how to deal with the fact that Emily had had a hand in putting her here – and now she might never get a chance to fix it, because once again, A has torn Emily Fields out of her life, and she’s helpless here, can’t do a thing to stop it.

When a guard appears at the door of her cell some time later, she holds her breath, sure that it’s bad news, for them to be coming to her so late (the sun having long ago set), but he doesn’t say a word as he unlocks the door and motions for her to follow him.

She’s led down a corridor she’s never been allowed in before, and he stops outside of a door and knocks, and Alison feels panic rising in her chest, because something must be _wrong_ , really wrong, and god, what if they’ve found the girls? What if something terrible had happened to them, to Emily?

What if she… what if she’d been killed?

Her heart hammers in her chest, so loud that she fears the guard will hear it, and her palms are sweating and she’s pretty sure that she’s going to throw up – and then the door swings open, and when she sees Tanner standing within her stomach drops.

“Alison,” the woman murmurs in greeting, inclining her head, but Alison can’t move, is frozen in fear as she stares at the detective. “Please come in.”

“Have you found them?” Her voice is a hoarse whisper, dread settling her stomach, and she’s rooted to the spot.

“Not exactly,” Tanner sighs, and Alison feels her breathing quicken because that does _not_ sound good. “Please, sit down.” She forces herself to move, managing to make her way to one of the chairs in the interrogation room within and collapsing into it. “Alison, I don’t know to tell you this…”

She trails off, and Alison prepares herself for the worst – to learn that one, or all of the girls have been hurt in some way – sets her jaw and tells herself that, no matter what, she will not cry in front of this woman, this woman who had arrested her, who had put her in this godforsaken place, who had stopped at nothing until she and the rest of the girls had been put behind bars.

“Mona Vanderwaal is alive.” Alison’s mouth drops open at Tanner’s words, a noise of surprise coming from the back of her throat, and if she could think clearly then she’d probably enjoy the look of terrible guilt on Tanner’s face.

“ _What_?” There’s a part of her that thinks that this must be a joke, because god, this cannot be happening to her. She _cannot_ have been locked up here, put through hell, for a crime that she not only didn’t commit, but that _never fucking happened in the first place_. “What do you mean she’s alive?”

“I mean that I’ve seen concrete video evidence of her not only being alive, but also being held captive with the other girls. It is my belief that whoever took the girls is responsible for faking Mona’s murder in order to frame you for it.”

A slightly hysterical laugh bubbles from the back of Alison’s throat because really, this is just too much – and A is even more brilliant than she’d ever given them credit for, because they’d played this beautifully.

A part of her wonders if Mona’s involved in all of this, somehow, but she quickly pushes the thought away, because that’s something to deal with at another time.

“I’m sorry, Alison.” Tanner looks contrite, but Alison doesn’t think she’s sincere – she’s probably just pissed because of how much of a giant idiot this case has made her look. “I… do you have any idea who could be doing this?”

“If I did, don’t you think I would’ve _said_ something?” She snaps, her disbelief turning into anger. “If it could help to find them, to get them to safety, I would’ve spilled my guts a long time ago.”

“Not even an inkling?”

“You really think that if I knew the person that had framed me and gotten me locked up in here for the past three months, that I would have kept my mouth shut for so long? Bite me.”

“If you’re protecting someone - ”

“Like _who_?!” The words tear out of her throat, her voice strangled, and she’s so _frustrated_ that no-one ever _believes_ her. “They are the only thing that matter to me anymore, the only reason I stayed. They mean _everything_ to me. I’m not keeping anything from you. Why would I lie? I have nothing left to lose.”

“Come on, then,” Tanner sighs, after scrutinising her for a long moment, taking a step towards the door, and Alison feels panic flood through her once again, because she can’t go back out there – she can’t go and sit back in that cell and just _wait_ , and when she doesn’t move Tanner seems to understand the reason for her apprehension. “You’re being released, Alison. You’re being held here on a murder charge. It’s kind of difficult to uphold that when the girl in question isn’t actually dead.”

Hope flutters in Alison’s chest, and she looks at Tanner for a long moment, trying to discern if she’s telling the truth – but there isn’t a trace of dishonesty on her face, and with some hesitance, Alison stands and follows her down the hallway outside.

She’s led to another room, and Tanner hands her a bag wordlessly – she glances within to see some of her clothes, neatly folded, within, and feels tears spring into her eyes, the thought she might actually be able to escape the place she’d been trying to come to terms with spending the rest of her life in starting to sink in.

“I’ll leave you to change.” Tanner leaves her in the room and she’s quick to strip out of the orange jumpsuit (wearing _that_ monstrosity every day isn’t something that she’s going to miss), as well as her underwear, thankful that there’s a clean pair in the bag, and she pulls on the clothes as quickly as she possibly can before slipping back out of the room.

A guard takes the jumpsuit from her and Tanner takes her arm, guiding her down the hallway until she’s in what must be the reception. Within she sees her father, pacing up and down, and when she’s let through the door and into the room he’s over to her in a flash, wrapping her in a hug and she can’t help but let the tears that have been building ever since she’d found out the girls had disappeared fall, soaking the material of his shirt.

When he releases her he studies her carefully, and she wonders what he sees in her face – she knows she’s not the same person she was before she came in here. Sometimes she thinks there’s not a trace of the girl she’d used to be within her, because she’s been twisted and changed over the past few years, and sometimes she catches a glimpse of herself in the mirror and wonders what had happened to her, when she’d lost herself.

“You’re safe, now, Alison,” he says, his voice wavering, and Alison just wishes that he’d been there for her like this before she’d been arrested – but she supposes that it’s better late than never. She pauses to take in the rest of her surroundings, then, doing a double take when she sees Ezra, Caleb and Toby hovering against the wall behind her dad. “You don’t have to speak to them,” her dad mutters as he notices where Alison’s gaze has fallen, but she shakes her head, stepping out of his arms and making her way over to the three boys.

“Do you know where they are?” Caleb is the first to approach her, his worry written all over his face as he towers over her, his voice low and fierce, and when she shakes her head he reaches for her arm, clutching so tight that she thinks it might bruise. “I swear to God, Alison, if you’re lying and you know something, I’ll - ”

“Hey,” Toby cuts in, resting a hand on Caleb’s shoulder and jerking him back, a note of warning in his voice. “I know you’re worried – we all are. But back off.”

“I don’t know anything,” Alison says, her voice pleading, begging them to believe her. “Have you found anything?”

“We found a lair at an abandoned farm,” Toby tells her, and she notes that he’s still in his police uniform. “But we haven’t gotten any leads from it. And I think we’re running out of time.”

“I want to help.” She finds the words coming from her mouth without much conscious thought, but it’s the truth – the thought of going home and waiting for something to happen is torturous. “I don’t know how I can, but I _want_ to.”

“Alison, you need to go home,” her dad’s voice interjects, and he looks at her sternly, but she whips around to face him, shaking her head.

“No, I don’t. What I need to do is find my friends.”

“That’s what the police are for.”

“And what good have the police been so far, huh?” Caleb speaks, then, his voice low and angry. “They couldn’t solve your daughter’s murder –didn’t even know that she wasn’t dead. They also put your daughter in prison for a crime that never even happened. They arrested four other girls for that same crime, and then let them get kidnapped. The police department in this town is a fucking joke that’s done nothing but let these girls down for the past three years, and if you think they’re gonna solve this on their own then I’m sorry, but you’re an idiot.”

Alison blinks, stunned at Caleb’s words, and turns to see her dads reaction – he stares at Caleb for a long moment, taken aback. “I don’t see what the four of you can do that they can’t.”

“We’re the only reason they found the van the girls were taken from, the only reason why they found the hideout of whoever’s done this. The only reason the police know that Mona is alive is because of us. We’re the reason your daughter’s out of prison – and you’re welcome for that, by the way. I think we’ve done a hell of a lot more than the police have, already.”

“I still don’t want you involved with this,” her dad replies, looking at Alison with wary eyes. “You _just_ got released, Alison. You don’t need to get yourself into more trouble.”

“I’m already _in_ trouble, dad! The person that put me in here is the same one that took the girls. And once they’re finished with them, they’re going to come after me. Again.”

“I just want you to be safe.”

“She’s not going to be safe until we catch this bastard,” Toby cuts in, his voice fierce. “We’ll look after your daughter, sir. You have our word.”

“Please, I can look after myself,” Alison scoffs, offended, and she sees Toby’s lips twitch into a half-smile. “I’ll be safe, dad. I promise.” He looks reluctant, but eventually nods, and she steps close to him in order to press a kiss to his cheek – there’s a part of her that wants nothing more than to get home and curl up in her own bed, but she knows she won’t be able to rest until the girls are safe.

“Fill me in,” she asks as she follows the guys out into the parking lot, piling into Toby’s car – she ends up in the back with Ezra, and he’s the one who answers her, his voice tight with worry.

“We don’t know a lot. Just that A managed to hijack the van the girls were being transferred in. They messed with the traffic cams so we can’t trace them that way – Caleb managed to track down the van, but it was a dead end.”

“I wouldn’t call it a dead end,” Toby adds as they turn onto the highway. “It’s A’s lair. We know that the girls are being kept in a creepy replica of - ” He cuts himself off suddenly, refusing to catch Alison’s eye in the rearview mirror.

“Replica of what?”

“Um,” Toby stalls, and Alison rolls her eyes, frustrated.

“Spit it out.”

“It’s a creepy replica of your house, okay?” Caleb answers, turning in the passenger seat to scrutinise her reaction – she’s not sure if the look of horror on her face is the one he’s looking for. “Hell, A’s got Mona dressed up like you. It’s fucked up.”

“What?” Alison is appalled, and both Caleb and Toby nod grimly.

“I saw it with my own eyes,” Toby tells her. “There were cameras for every room in there – there’s a replica of everyone’s bedroom, and half the rooms in your house. And Mona’s in a blonde wig and she’s wearing what you were wearing the day you disappeared and it’s… really, really messed up.”

“So you’re sure you don’t know anything?” Caleb asks her again, still watching her closely. “Cause whoever A is, they’ve sure got a thing for you.”

“Don’t say it like that,” she replies, shuddering at the thought – this whole thing just gets weirder and weirder, and she has no idea how to connect all the puzzle pieces in order for it to all to make _sense_. “And no, for the last time, I don’t know anything.”

“You’re the most connected one to this, though,” Caleb argues. “You always have been.”

“And? That just means that A’s got some sort of weird fixation with me – it doesn’t mean I have any idea who they are. Do you honestly think, if I’d figured it out, I would’ve kept it to myself?”

“I don’t know, you’ve done some pretty fucked up things in the past.” Alison narrows her eyes at Caleb, desperate to take her anger and frustration out on _someone_ – she thinks it’s only fair, considering she’s his target. “What’s one more?”

“Watch it,” she growls, her voice dangerous, eyes flashing, and Toby is quick to speak up, trying to diffuse the tension.

“Guys, we need to work together if we’re going to figure this out,” he says, the voice of reason. “Which means we need to stop winding each other up. I know we’re all upset and we’re all angry and we’re all scared, but we can’t take it out on each other.”

“Tell _him_ that,” Alison hisses, folding her arms across her chest, and Caleb just rolls his eyes and mutters ‘whatever’ and Alison’s pretty sure that that isn’t going to be the last of it – he’s obviously still harbouring some feelings of resentment towards her.

Not that she blames him. If their positions were reversed, she’s sure she’d feel the same way.

“Ezra, you okay?” Toby asks, changing the subject as he pulls into the parking lot around the back of The Brew and shuts off the car. “You look like you’re thinking pretty hard about something.”

“I was just…” A crease of concentration forms between his eyebrows as he turns to look at Alison curiously. “I was just thinking about what Caleb said, about how Alison is the one most connected to this. A’s obsessed with you, drawn to you… I’m positive you know who they are, you’re just not _aware_ of it.”

“But that’s the _problem_!” Alison’s voice climbs an octave, because they’re all looking at her like she holds all the answers and she’s sure she _doesn’t_. “They’ve been after me for _years_ , Ezra. Always one step ahead of me, always playing with me like a doll, wrecking my life for their own sick enjoyment, and I can’t figure it out. I’ve never even been _close_ and you what? Want me to solve it in a night?”

“No, not necessarily…” He trails off, still lost in thought, and then his head snaps up, his eyes meeting Toby’s. “Is there any way we could get Alison into that lair?” Alison shudders at the thought of it, of being, knowingly, in the same place A had stood, where they had undoubtedly plotted against her – spied on her – and the others.

“Maybe,” Tony replies, looking thoughtful. “It wouldn’t be easy, and it’d be risking a lot and she wouldn’t have a lot of time in there… but yeah, I think we could do it. What are you thinking?”

“I’m thinking that Alison has a different perspective on all of this than we do. She’s at the centre of it, but we’ve always been outsiders. She might be able to see something in there that we, and the police, would think nothing of. I think she’s our best shot at finding them.”

He looks at her with a glimmer of hope in his eyes, and she swallows thickly, not sure that they should be pinning their hopes on her, because she’s been useless this whole time. A had played her perfectly, had her exactly where they wanted her, and she has no idea how she’s supposed to outsmart them now, not when the stakes are so high.

But then she thinks of Emily, thinks of how scared she must be right now, thinks of how it would feel, to never see her again – and she thinks that maybe, just maybe, she can be strong enough to do this.

Maybe.

x-x-x

“Okay, we’re going to need a distraction in-case this doesn’t work,” Toby says as the four of them stand under the shelter of a few trees, eyes fixed firmly on the two police officers watching the entrance of the lair. One is leaning back against his squad car, on his phone looking bored, whilst the other stands alert, eyes sweeping the area in-front of him every few moments.

“We can do that,” Ezra is quick to volunteer, nodding towards Caleb, who nods in agreement.

“So I’ll go over there and tell them Tanner asked me to swing by and take over watch duty for a while. There shouldn’t be anyone inside – if there is then we’re all in big trouble, so here’s hoping. If they don’t leave then you guys,” he indicates Ezra and Caleb, “are gonna have to provide enough of a spectacle to give Alison enough time to slip inside.”

“And how is she going to get out?” Ezra asks, and when his eyes meet hers for the briefest of seconds Alison sees concern in them, wonders how he can still care about her after all that she’s done.

“I’ll worry about that if I have to,” Alison replies, brushing the question off with a wave of her hand – even though it is kind of a valid point. But she’ll figure it out… somehow.

“Okay. Wish me luck, guys.” Toby returns to his car and drives past them a few moments later, pulling to a stop a few metres away from where the other car’s parked and hopping out. He speaks to the two officers in a low voice for a few seconds, and they watch as the face of the bored-looking one turns elated – but the other shakes his head, and the three of them curse as he chooses to stay while the other guy leaves.

Toby turns to throw them a helpless look as the car speeds away, and Alison steels herself for what she’s about to do. “Are you sure you’re okay with this, Ali?” Ezra asks as the three of them move a little closer, and she can only nod, not trusting herself to speak. All too soon she’s left alone – she sneaks closer to the door of the lair, staying in the line of the trees, hidden from view, knowing that she has just five minutes to get herself into position before the boys make a move.

Toby’s attempting to strike up a conversation with the other officer, trying to get him to turn his back to where Alison waits – when he does she dares to move even closer, crouching close to the ground in order to remain out of sight.

The next few minutes feel like an age, as she waits for her opportunity; all she can hear is her racing heart and her harsh breathing, and she’s convinced that it’s going to give her away. When she hears the sound of a commotion coming from her left she tenses, prepares herself to move – as soon as Toby and the other police officer turn away, towards Ezra and Caleb, who are storming towards them shouting angrily, she pushes herself upright and into a sprint, crossing the few strides to the door quickly, and she’s glad that they’re still propped open.

She fishes out the flashlight Toby had handed her as she descends the stairs, and as she sees the huge screens at the bottom she catches her breath, because even though she knew what she’d be confronted with, she still wasn’t prepared.

She wasn’t prepared to see the faces of her friends, taut with worry, as they sat in what had to be a perfect recreation of her living room. She wasn’t prepared to see Mona styled to look exactly like her.

She wasn’t prepared to see Emily’s face after what felt like an age – she finds herself stepping closer until she’s practically pressed against the screen, the trembling fingers of her left hand reaching out to trace gently down the side of Emily’s face.

“What the hell are you doing?” Caleb’s voice comes from behind her, an angry whisper, and she jumps and spins around, startled, her hand dropping quickly to her side. “We don’t have much time.”

“What the hell are _you_ doing?!” She snaps back, furious. “You’re supposed to be the distraction!”

“Yeah, well, someone needs to keep an eye on you.” The look he throws her lets her know that he doesn’t trust her, not even a little. “And besides, that guy isn’t going to be much of a problem.”

“Why?”

“I knocked him out.” Caleb pushes past her to settle at the computer to the left of the screen, his fingers flying over the keys so quickly that Alison struggles to keep up.

“You _assaulted_ a police officer?!”

“Oh, relax, he didn’t see my face.” Caleb tugs at the black ski mask that’s hanging around his neck. “Besides, better assaulting one than making out with one, right?” He turns to throw her a serene smile over his shoulder and she flushes, knowing that he’s referring to Holbrook – and it makes her _seethe_ because what _right_ does he have to question her? He doesn’t know _anything_ about her, has no idea why she did the things she did. “Emily was pretty upset about the whole thing. She seemed to think you actually gave a shit about her, at some point. I don’t know why. You only seem to care about yourself.”

“ _Fuck_ you,” she snarls, and she wants to reach out and throttle him, takes a step closer – but then there’s the sound of footsteps pounding down the stairs.

“Guys! Not the time!” Toby calls, clearly overhearing Alison’s words, and Alison gives Caleb one last look of disgust before turning away. She ignores the TV screens, because she knows if she sees Emily’s face again her concentration will waver, and instead wanders away, to behind the stairs.

There isn’t much there, which only increases her frustration. There’s a small table, a dollhouse sitting on-top of it – each room carefully decorated, and Alison can tell from just a glance which room is supposed to be which, and it makes her sick to think of A watching her and her friends, of them knowing the inside of their rooms so intimately.

Photos dot the walls – mostly of her, and she shudders as she looks around and her eyes stare back at her. Her every movement since she arrived back in Rosewood appears to have been documented, and it’s terrifying, to realize that someone’s been watching her for so long without her having any idea.

“Ali!” At Toby’s shout she turns and wanders back around the corner. “Caleb’s managed to hack into the cameras to get them to show us different angles. Do you recognise anything?” She glances from screen to screen, but all she can see is darkness and trees, the hint of a building that she knows could be anywhere.

“It could be anywhere,” Ezra echoes her thoughts, his voice coloured with despair. “Anywhere.” An image flashes up on one of the screens, of the girls stood outside, before it disappears.

“Hey, wait, go back,” she calls to Caleb, whose fingers are still moving rapidly over the keys. He obliges, and the image flickers back up, and she points towards it with her left hand. “They look like they’re outside.” She tries not to think about why they could _possibly_ be in eveningwear (tries not to let her eyes take in the sight of Emily’s dress because now is _so_ not the time), because the reason is probably something she doesn’t want to know. “Can you zoom in?”

“The controls are over there,” Toby nods towards a set of buttons towards the right of the screen and Alison hurries over, frowning down at them and trying to decipher which set she needs. When she works it out she rewinds the footage, watches the girls disappear back through a door and pauses.

“It says restricted,” she points out, frowning in concentration. “Could it be some sort of bunker, maybe?” She presses play, watches the girls emerge from within, sees lights flash bright and an electric fence become illuminated, and she feels sick. “They’re completed trapped…”

“And we’re the only ones who can find them,” Caleb mutters grimly. “Toby said the police aren’t bringing in an analyst to break the code on this thing until tomorrow. They won't have seen this yet.”

“I’m guessing,” Alison murmurs as she plays the video again, watches the girls look around at each other stricken as they realise their predicament before hurrying back through the doors. “That they weren’t supposed to find themselves outside. A’s gonna be pissed.”

“Then we don’t have much time.”

“Hey,” Alison starts, an idea forming in her head. “Can you get a timestamp on any of these?”

“Uhh, I can try,” Caleb turns back to the computer, presses a few more keys, and Alison breathes out a gasp of delight when a time appears in the corner of each screen. “There we go. Why?”

“Now go back and try and find the very first footage of the girls in this place,” she instructs and Caleb doesn’t argue, just nods and starts typing once again. “Toby, do the police know the exact time the girls were taken?”

“Roughly, yeah.”

“And we know exactly where the van disappeared?” He nods. “Then if we can find out what time the girls appeared in this place,” she gestures to the screens behind her, “we can work out how long it took A to drive them there. If we get a map we should be able to draw a radius around from where the van disappeared to where A could drive in that amount of time. Then we can start looking within that radius for a place that could house something like that. We know it’s in the woods, we know it’s gotta be somewhere out of the way, that it could be a bunker or something like that. Probably abandoned… it’s a long shot, really, but it’s all we’ve got.”

“And if wherever it is isn’t on a map?”

“We’ll worry about that later.”

“That looks promising…” Toby murmurs as Caleb brings up the image of each of the girls in their respective ‘bedrooms’ – they watch them wake, clearly terrified, and Alison’s jaw clenches as she watches Emily scramble out of the bed and pound on the door.

She rewinds the footage, playing it back until they see a figure, dressed all in black, dragging each of the girls, unconscious, into each room. She tries to pause it to get a glimpse of their face, but it’s hidden well by a mask.

“It’s a guy,” Toby breathes, studying the build, and Alison has to agree – it’s strange, to be looking at the person that’s haunted her for so long, and finally know something concrete about them. Not that it helps them in any way – it still could be anyone. “A had an hour and a half to drive from where they found the van.”

“An hour and a half?” Alison is appalled, because it’s already been nearly a full night since the girls had upset A, and the last thing they needed was to add more time to what it would take to find them – the grim faces of the guys tells her that they’re thinking exactly the same thing.

“Wait… How far is this place from where the van was taken?” Ezra asks, turning to Toby.

“An hour or so… You think we’re close.”

“I think that A wouldn’t want be to be too far away. Especially if he’s been watching them from here.”

“He probably has another lair somewhere else, though,” Alison points out. “To be able to control what happens in there.”

“But why leave the van here if it was out of the way?” Toby’s eyes light up as he considers Ezra’s words. “The police got the GPS tracking data, and it stopped here. I’m betting A moved the girls from one van to another. So maybe we’re only a half hour away from them.”

“We need a map.”

“I have one in the car.” Alison casts one last glance at the screens (at Emily) before turning to follow Toby up the steps, Caleb and Ezra on their heels – outside, the cop is still out cold, and they hurry past him and towards Toby’s car.

He fetches the map and splays it across the hood of the car, grabbing a pen that Alison had stolen from the lair and putting an ‘X’ over the farm’s location, as Alison and Caleb aim their flashlights at the map to give them enough light to see.

“Okay, so a half hour radius is… about this much?” Toby questions, setting his pen some way away from the mark he’d made, and Alison and Caleb shake their heads in unison.

“No, closer – here, let me.” Alison takes the pen and passes Toby the flashlight, stepping into the centre of the group and pondering the map’s scale, sizing it up by eye before setting her pen down, drawing a near perfect circle when she hears no sounds of protest. “There’s our radius.” Unfortunately, most of it is woodland. They’re able to narrow it down a little, but there’s still a vast area to cover, and Alison feels more frustration settle in. “We can’t do this on our own.”

“You think we should call the police?” Caleb asks, and when she glances across at him she sees only weariness in his eyes.

“I think we need to call _someone_.”

“I agree,” Toby says with a sigh, reaching for the police radio at his shoulder. “I’ll call Tanner, let her know what we’ve found.”

“Um…” Alison glances towards the cop that’s still flat out on the floor, who’s beginning to stir. “Maybe you shouldn’t mention any names?”

“Let’s just pretend that you guys followed me here and whoever attacked poor John over there stole your car to get away.” Caleb chuckles and Alison shakes her head before making her way over to John, kneeling at his side.

“Wh… what happened?” He asks as his eyes flutter open, glancing around in confusion – when he sees Alison he scrambles into a sitting position and winces in pain. “What are you doing here? This is a crime scene.”

“You don’t remember what happened?” Alison asks, keeping her voice sympathetic. “You got hit in the head pretty hard.”

“You shouldn’t be here.”

“My friends and I just wanted to know if there was anything we could do to help. That’s all.”

“Well, you can’t. You should go. All of you.” He shoves himself into a standing positon and Alison rises, too.

“Oh, we can’t,” she says with a serene smile. “The guy that hit you? Yeah, he stole our car. So we’re stuck.” She wanders away, back to Toby, who’s wincing as Tanner’s voice barks a reprimand – she hears the words ‘what the hell were you thinking’, ‘no-one should be allowed at the scene without my _express_ permission’ and ‘I don’t _care_ what they found, they shouldn’t have been there in the first place!’, and is glad that she’s not him.

“Hey,” Ezra comes over to her and leans against the hood of the police car beside her, “how are you doing?”

“Honestly? I’ve had better days. But hey, at least I’m not still in prison.” She smiles weakly at the joke, and he flashes her a sympathetic one in return.

“I’m sorry you went through that.” 

“Yeah, well. Shit happens.” She shrugs, like it’s no big deal, like she won’t be having nightmares about the whole horrendous experience for the next few months. She knows what memory will haunt her the most – the one of having a hot iron pressed to her flesh.

She can still smell the stench of burning flesh, sometimes, and she rubs at the bandage around her wrist as she remembers.

“It does,” Ezra agrees with a nod. “But I feel like you’ve been through a hell of a lot more of it than the average person.”

“Some people would say it was deserved,” she murmurs quietly, and she catches sight of Caleb and nods towards him. “I’m sure he would.”

“He gives you a hard time, sure,” Ezra agrees, “but he’s just worried about Hanna. You don’t deserve what you’ve been through, Ali. No-one does. And when we finally catch this bastard you’ll finally have the chance for a normal life. All of you will.”

“I forgot what normal felt like a long time ago,” she says with a bitter laugh. “I don’t even think it’s possible for me.”

“An easier life, then. A better one.”

“Maybe.” She can't help but let her mind wander to Emily, wonders if a better life could ever include her – prays that it does because god, she doesn’t know what she’d do without her. “Maybe not.”

“Tanner thinks she knows where the girls are,” Toby approaches them, excitement in his eyes. “There’s a place about twenty minutes away that they used to use in the military – it’s in the middle of the woods, and almost all of it is underground, and as far as she knows it’s been abandoned for the past thirty years.”

“Then what are we waiting for?” Caleb demands, already tugging at the doorhandle of the passenger side. “Let’s go!”

“I don’t think we should go charging in there,” Toby replies with a frown. “I don’t want to wait, but we don’t know what we’re walking into. I think we could use the backup.”

“Toby’s right.” Alison hates to agree, the thought of leaving Emily and the girls in A’s clutches for even a second longer than necessary filling her with guilt, but… the four of them don’t know what they’re _doing_. And the last thing she wants is to put the girls in more danger. “We should wait.”

“And why the hell should we listen to you?” Caleb explodes, rounding on her and even though she knows he’s mad at A and the situation they’re in, not necessarily her, she still takes a step back when she sees the fury in his eyes. “It’s your fault they’re in there in the first place! Do you even care? Do you even care that if not for you, they’d all be safe?”

“Of _course_ I care.” Her voice is cold, and she digs the nails of her fingers into the palms of her hands and tells herself to just breathe. “How can you even _ask_ me that? Why the hell would I be here with you now if I didn’t?”

“I don’t know! But we’ve all got a girl we love in there and you… what? Just want to be a good friend? Just want to get back in their good graces after all the shit you put them through?”

“You wouldn’t have found them if it wasn’t for me,” she spits back, unable to keep her own anger at bay, and when she advances towards him she feels a flash of gratification when he flinches. “It’s not _my_ fault that some fucking psycho kidnapped them and I know that you’re angry and you’re looking for someone to blame and I’m the easy target but I’m getting really fucking tired of it.” Out of the corner of her eye she sees Ezra and Toby exchanging wary looks, wondering if they need to step in. “And guess what? There’s a girl I love in there, too.”

She hadn’t exactly planned to say it. It just sort of… slipped out. But it’s the truth – she’s loved Emily Fields since she was too young to know what love truly was, and she’s tired of trying to hide it. She’d hidden it from herself for too long, from Emily for too long, from the whole damn world and she just… she doesn’t _want_ to anymore.

She’s no longer a scared little girl too afraid to admit that she might like girls (or just one girl, in particular), and her biggest regret is not telling Emily the true depth of what she felt, that one night in her room before everything had gone to hell.

She wonders if it would have made a difference, or if Emily would’ve looked back at that moment and wondered if Alison had been telling the truth – all she knows is that she doesn’t want to keep it a secret for a second longer, not after being confronted with the reality that losing Emily forever could become a very real possibility.

All she’s had for the past three months for company is her thoughts, and Emily’s the one who’d featured in them the most – she haunted her, like a ghost; she saw her every time she closed her eyes, dreamt of her every single night, just like she had when she was on the run, when she’d thought of the girl that she’d left behind (when she thought of how _ruined_ Emily must be by it all), and she’d cried herself to sleep more times than she can count.

All she’s had for the past three months is her thoughts, to realize how stupid she’d been. She’d been looking forward to this moment so much, to be _free_ , because she could start to make the changes she knew she needed to in order to survive – she needed to make amends with the girls, because they were her everything. She needed to make amends with Emily, _somehow_ , needed to be honest with her for _once_ – she just hopes that she’ll actually get the chance.

“Yeah? Well you’ve got a funny way of showing it.” She reacts without thinking. It’s a visceral, automatic reaction to Caleb’s words, to the taunt in his eyes – her hand reaches up of its own accord and slams into the side of Caleb’s face in a slap so hard that it stings her palm, her nails catching his cheek and drawing blood, and there’s fire in her eyes as she lurches forward for another, and then Toby’s hands are at her waist, hauling her away.

She’s shaking, when Toby releases his hold on her, and she tells herself to get it together, clenching her hands into fists at her sides and setting her jaw, taking harsh, deep breaths that rattle through her chest.

“He shouldn’t have said that,” Toby says, after considering Alison for several moments – she glances up at him, surprised, and he shrugs. “He shouldn’t. And he didn’t mean it. He’s just - ”

“Upset. I know. But we all are.”

“Yeah, well, Caleb’s not exactly got the best sense of control.”

“And he hates me,” she points out, and Toby shakes his head.

“Nah, he doesn’t hate you. He doesn’t even know you. He’s just… all he’s heard about you is stories from Hanna - ” Alison winces, because she knows her comments about Hanna’s weight had left a lasting mark that she still suffers from today. “And it didn’t exactly make the best impression. And then you came back and…”

“Got myself imprisoned?” She supplies, helpfully, shaking her head and sighing heavily. “God, my life’s fucked up.”

“All of our lives are. All because of A.” A stormy expression crosses his face, but Alison can see the worry behind it, in his eyes, knows that he’d joined the force in order to try and protect Spencer, and can’t imagine the helplessness he must be feeling.

“We’ll find them,” she says, with more conviction than she feels, reaching out and squeezing his shoulder gently. He looks at her with surprise, before flashing her a grim smile.

“Yeah. I hope so.”

“We will,” she repeats, an edge of desperation to her voice, because they _have_ to. She’s been trying not to think about Emily too much, because she knows if she does, if she truly allows herself to consider the fact that they might be too late (and it’s been hours since that video footage, since the girls had pissed A off and every second they wait is another second something awful could happen), then she knows she’ll break.

Her heart – already broken and shattered from the realization that Emily had lost all of her faith (if she ever really had any at all), in Alison, that night when their eyes had met and she’d murmured one last warning before surrendering herself to Tanner, when she’d seen the blank look in Emily’s eyes – would crumble beyond repair, the pieces scattering through her body and she’d never be able to put them back together again.

She’d collapse to the floor and she wouldn’t be able to move, would curl in on herself and let the tears fall freely, until she had nothing left to give, until she could barely breathe from the force of her sobs.

No, she can’t think about Emily. She can’t think about losing her. She can’t think about them being too late – so close, but too late.

She can’t think about any of it because it will break her beyond repair.

When Toby’s police radio crackles with the sound of voices, Alison jumps, startled, and he throws her an apologetic look before reaching for his shoulder, walking a few steps away and speaking in a quiet voice before, a moment later, he’s motioning her over to where Ezra and Caleb stand, by his car.

She feels a flash of regret as she notices the mark she’s left on Caleb’s cheek – the flesh is pink, the scratch from her nails a red line near his left eye – but then she remembers what he’d said to her, that he’d had the audacity to claim that her feelings for Emily were fake, and it quickly flees.

“The police are nearby. They want me to meet them there, and Tanner’s going to kill me for bringing you guys with me - ”

“We’re not waiting here,” Alison interrupts, quickly, because they’ve waited long enough already, done _hour_ of it _s_ , and she can’t stand another second.

“I know, and I’m not stupid enough to even ask you to. So hop in.” The car is full of nervous silence as Toby drives, his hands clutching at the wheel so tightly that his knuckles flash white. There’s a knot of tension at the base of Alison’s spine, and her breaths come quick and fast as her panic skyrockets with every mile they move closer to their destination – closer to the girls.

Closer to finding out what horror awaits them.

The flashing of police lights greets them, and as soon as Toby pulls to a stop the four of them are clambering out of the car – Tanner, talking to a group of several officers in a voice full of authority, takes one glance at them before storming over, her expression furious.

“Cavanaugh!” She snaps as she comes to a stop before them, her eyes roving over each one of their faces – she does a double-take when she sees Alison, pausing momentarily before remembering herself. “What the _hell_ are you doing? You can’t bring civilians here! Anything could be waiting for us in there, you need to take them back to wherever you came from.”

“If you think we’re leaving, you’ve got another thing coming.” Caleb’s the first to speak, an air of defiance emanating from him, from his voice and his posture, arms folded tight across his chest and his jaw tilted upwards like a challenge.

“I tried to keep them away,” Toby says with a weary sigh, playing his part effortlessly. “But they wouldn’t listen. And they’re very persuasive.”

“And we’re already here, now,” Ezra adds, smiling serenely. “So we may as well stay.”

“Oh, for the love of - ” Tanner cuts herself off abruptly, and Alison wonders just _how_ badly she wants to arrest the four of them right now. “ _Fine_. You can stay, but _please_ stay out of the damn way and let us do our jobs?”

“If you’d have done your job properly before we wouldn’t be in this situation right now,” Caleb mutters under his breath, and Toby elbows him sharply in the side – Tanner glances at him for a long moment, eyes narrowing in scrutiny, before she shakes her head and walks away.

“They better still be in that exact same spot when we come back out, Cavanaugh!” She calls over her shoulder, and the four of them breathe a collective sigh of relief, glad that they won’t be turned away at such a crucial part of the night.

“Why are there ambulances here?” Alison asks, her voice tight, as three of them pull up behind the police cars, and she feels worry claw its way up her throat, finds it hard to breathe.

“It’ll just be a precaution,” Ezra tries to reassure her, but it doesn’t ease her panic. “Just in-case.” He whispers that last part, an anguish in his voice at what that ‘just in-case’ might be, and the four of them instinctively move closer to on another, trying to draw comfort in the solidarity that they share as they wait for their loved ones to (hopefully) be rescued.

The police finish making their final arrangements for their plan before disappearing into the night, advancing into the woods dressed in full gear, police dogs yanking at their leashes, and all too soon the brightness of the flashlights they’re using to guide their way fades and all that’s left to do, once again, is wait.

A few people mill around by the cars, on high alert, whilst the paramedics ready themselves for whatever will emerge from the trees, and all the four of them can do is stand there in a huddle, while each agonizing second ticks by.

“I can’t do this anymore,” Toby murmurs after what feels like hours, kicking viciously at the soil beneath their feet. “I can’t just stand here and do _nothing_.”

“That’s all we _can_ do,” Caleb says glumly, though Alison can tell that he’s itching to do _something_ , from the restless way his eyes scan the area in-front of them every few seconds, and the way he taps his fingers in an anxious rhythm against the side of his thigh.

Toby lets out a noise of frustration before making his way over to one of the officers standing nearby, and Alison hears him asking what plan they’d made but quickly tunes out their conversation, because she doesn’t want to know.

She moves away, needing a moment alone – a moment to gather herself, to try and get herself together because with every minute that passes she feels her resolve to try and stay strong start to crack.

She inhales shakily and closes her eyes, counting to ten before breathing out, trying to think of a happier memory to distract her from the nightmare she’s in now. The scent of the trees, pressing close, of damp soil from heavy rain and the low buzz of insects in the night takes her back – to different woods, in a different clearing, when the sun was high in the sky and she’d felt her heart swell with love for the very first time.

She remembers the way the sunlight had danced in Emily’s hair, the way it had brought out the golden flecks in her eyes and lit up her face in the most beautiful of ways – she remembers the way Emily had kissed her, with hesitance at first, before she’d grown bolder and pressed Alison against the rock at her back, had kissed Alison so hard that she’d seen stars, so hard that sometimes, even now, she swears she can feel the ghost of Emily’s lips against her own.

It hadn’t been their first time at the kissing rock, or their last. But it was the one that Alison would always remember, because it was the one where she’d come the closest to telling Emily how she really felt – not in words, but in the way she’d painted their initials against the side of the rock, in red paint for all the world to see.

She feels tears prick at the corner of her eyes and curses herself, before she was supposed to be making herself feel _better_ but all she can think is how she’d returned to the rock, two days after Emily had accused her of being A; how she’d run her fingers over the paint, still there and barely faded, even after nearly three years, and cried for what they could have had.

And now she wonders if she’ll have to return there alone again, and cry for the girl she’d lost, if Emily doesn’t manage to come out of this in once piece.

Or at all.

Angrily, she wipes at her eyes with the back of her hand, because she _will not_ let herself fall apart, not like this. Not out in the open, exposed and vulnerable, with curious eyes watching her. She takes another deep breath, focuses on counting, and refuses to think about anything else – when she opens her eyes and sees Caleb standing beside her, she stumbles back a step in alarm.

“Sorry,” he’s quick to apologize, holding his hands out in a gesture of peace. “I didn’t mean to scare you, I thought you heard me coming.”

“No. Jesus.” She presses a hand to her chest, to where her heart is still hammering wildly, and shoots him a wary look. “What’s up?”

“Nothing, I just…” He sighs, shoving his hands into his pockets, and kicks idly at the ground, gaze focused on his foot. “I just wanted to apologize. You’re going through the same thing as the rest of us, and I’ve been a dick to you for no reason, and it wasn’t fair of me. So I’m sorry.”

“I’m sorry, too,” she murmurs after a moment of shocked silence. “I shouldn’t have slapped you.”

“Ah, it’s alright. I kinda deserved it.”

“Yeah, you did.” He glances up at that, meets her gaze – and then huffs out a short laugh, shaking his head wryly. “But I’m still sorry.”

“Like I said, don’t worry about it.” He turns and wanders back over to Toby’s car, and Alison follows after a moment, leaning her back against the driver’s door and she feels fatigue sink into her bones, and she’s suddenly so weary that she just wants to collapse – her sleep the last few nights has been fitful, with her trial looming and then the verdict (not that she’d been sleeping great before then), and she doesn’t even want to _know_ many hours she’s been awake for today.

Caleb seems to sense her exhaustion, and after a moment of hesitation slides an arm around the back of her shoulders – she stiffens at the unfamiliar touch, before relaxing into it, trying to draw strength from the solid warmth of him against her side. Caleb throws an arm around Ezra, too, and then Toby is on Alison’s left, joining the embrace, and the first time Alison feels like she might be strong enough to survive this.

Because for the first time in a long time, she’s not alone.

But her resole crumbles when they hear the sound of voices. She doesn’t know how long they’ve been waiting, has no idea what time is it, but the sun has started to creep into the sky, bathing the world around them in a weak, hazy early-morning sunlight, and that’s when they see the first people start to emerge from the trees.

Alison’s breath catches in her throat, anxiously waiting for a glimpse of the girls, and on either side of her, she can feel the tension in Toby and Caleb’s bodies, their spines rigid and their breathing shallow.

And then she sees them, wrapped in heavy blankets and being guided through the trees and into the clearing – Aria comes first, followed by Spencer, and Toby and Ezra move quick as lightning, sprinting towards them and wrapping the girls in their arms and Alison swallows hard and forces her gaze away, because the love she sees between the four of them is so pure that she feels like it might burn her.

Caleb’s still got an arm around her back, and he’s holding onto her so tight that she can barely breathe, and she’s got her right hand clutching at the back of his jacket so hard that it shakes. Mona is the next of the girls to appear, and as she watches the girl take in the sight of Aria and Ezra and Toby and Spencer, she sees Mona look at the two of them with something like jealously and longing in her gaze – and then she glances up, locks eyes with Alison, and she wishes she could feel sorry for her, because there is no-one here for her and she knows what’s it like to come back from the dead, knows how lonely it can be.

But she can’t shake the feeling that Mona is more involved in this than she wants them all the believe, and she remembers all too well the fact that Mona is one of the reasons things between her and Emily had started to break before they’d  ever truly began.

All because of a stupid _video_ , and she’s not faultless, she knows. She’d risen to the bait and performed exactly as Mona had expected her to, and she never would’ve guessed, all those years ago, that loser Mona would be her downfall.

Mona’s eyes cut into her like a knife, and she wonders what she sees staring back at her – wonders if her gaze burns like Mona’s seems to. And then she blinks, and the spell is broken, and Mona allows herself to be led away.

Alison’s anxious as she scans to treeline, wondering where the hell Emily is, praying that nothing’s happened to her, with her heart in her mouth the whole time. Finally, she sees a movement, but it’s a flash of blonde hair, not brown, and Caleb lets out a sob of relief before he’s moving, crashing into Hanna so hard that they nearly fall to the ground.

She’s so distracted by the two of them that she’s taken aback when she glances up and sees a pair of haunting brown eyes staring back at her – she freezes, only allowing herself to breathe when she’s given Emily a once-over and sees that, on the surface at least, she’s _okay_.

She takes a stumbling step forward before stopping, because she doesn’t… she hasn’t thought this _through_. Because the last time Emily had seen her she’d been given a guilty verdict and seen Emily arrested and hauled away – all because of _her_ and god, what if Emily blames her for it all?

What if she blames her for whatever horrors had happened to her out here, in the middle of nowhere? What if she doesn’t want her here? What if it’s too late for her to salvage things between them?

All thoughts flee her mind when she sees Emily move, _towards_ her, and then the brunette’s collapsing into her arms and Alison’s sagging beneath the weight of her, beneath the weight of her exhaustion and everything that’s happened, beneath her worry and her fear, and she sinks to the ground with the warmth of Emily’s arms around her, and she feels the tears that she’d so carefully kept at bay start to fall.

“You’re here,” Emily murmurs into her ear, her voice laced with disbelief, and Alison’s arms wrap tightly around her waist, holding her close because she never wants to let her go.

“Of course I’m here.” She turns her face into the side of Emily’s neck, overwhelmed by the relief coursing through her veins, by the feeling of finally having Emily in her arms again. “Did you really think I could stay away?”

“I just… I never thought I’d see you again.” Emily’s voice cracks, and when she pulls back slightly it’s only to cup the side of Alison’s face with one hand, stroking her thumb reverently across the skin of her cheek. “I thought I was going to die in there. I thought I was going to die in there and you’d be in prison for the rest of your life, because of _me_. God, Ali, I’m so sorry, I - ”

“Don’t,” Alison interrupts, because she can see the anguish and the regret reflected in Emily’s eyes and she hates that she’s the cause of it. “Don’t. None of that matters anymore. All that matters is that you’re safe.”

“And that you’re here.”

“And I’m not going anywhere. Not if you don’t want me to.” Emily’s answer is unexpected – she slides a hand into Alison’s hair and draws her close, pressing their lips together in a ghost of a kiss that has Alison inhaling a shaky breath.

And when she doesn’t pull away, Emily kisses her again, harder this time, and Alison can taste the salt of both of their tears but it’s still perfect – because she can taste the want, the need, the _love_ that Emily still has for her, too, and because she’s kissing _Emily_ , who has always meant the world to her but just never knew it.

She falls into the kiss, pours her everything into it, because she needs Emily to _know_. She needs her to know that this means something (that this means _everything_ ), that the past few hours, the thought that she might have lost Emily for good, have been the worst part of her entire life.

She needs Emily to know that she loves her, because she can’t stand the thought of going through another second of her life without her knowing – but she doesn’t want to say the words _here_ , after a night she’s sure they both want to forget, when Emily might wonder, later, if Alison had truly meant them.

No, that moment needs to be perfect – so she settles for showing Emily how much she means to her with the way she kisses her, instead.

When they pull apart both of their breathing is ragged, and when Alison’s eyes flutter open it’s to see Emily looking at her like she’s never seen her before, her eyes wide and filled with wonder, and she wants nothing more than to press their lips together again, until her head spins, until the memories of this awful, terrible night are chased away by the heat of Emily’s mouth against her own.

But they’re not alone (she can feel the heat of curious eyes fixed on them, and when she glances up several people look hastily away – aside from the three girls, who are looking at them with a range of emotions, from concern to wariness to happiness), and Emily needs to be checked out to make sure she really is okay, and her knees are protesting from pressing against the hard ground, so she takes Emily’s hands and rises to her feet, pulling the brunette with her.

Emily drags Alison with her over to the paramedics, refuses to let go of her hand – she holds her so tightly that Alison’s slightly concerned, at one point, that she’s going to lose circulation, but she doesn’t complain.

Because she wants to hold onto Emily just as tightly, wants to hold her and never let go, wants to never let the brunette out of her sight ever again, because she’d come so close to losing her and she never wants to feel like this again.

It’s only as Emily’s given the all-clear and they make their way over to the other girls, huddled together with their boyfriends and waiting for the police to take their statements, as Emily’s arms wind around her waist and hold her close, her head pressing against the top of Alison’s head as Alison loops her arms around the brunette, that it starts to sink in.

She’s out of prison and she doesn’t have to go back, and even though everything’s still so messed up, she’s _okay_. She’s okay and she’s _safe_ and Emily’s still breathing, her heart is still beating because she can hear the steady rhythm of it, and Emily’s arms feel like they’re welcoming her home.

It’s the first time in a really long time – maybe even the first time ever – that she’s looked at Emily and thought that maybe, just maybe, they’d be okay.

That somehow, some day, they could actually make this _work_.

 


End file.
